The setting sun cast a golden light between the two mountains onto the village.

Yu Xing, the protagonist, appeared to be a fashionable person. He wore a fluffy white shirt with a large round collar and sleeves that almost covered his fingers. He paired it with tight jeans and white sneakers, carrying a painting easel and other tools on his back. He looked exquisite.

Although his attire was not very serious, it was the kind that many young girls liked nowadays. Under the sunlight, Yu Xing felt warm and cozy, as if he were a fluffy cotton dumpling.

"It's so warm," he thought.

The movements of him and the girl naturally caught the attention of the other three people. Their gazes met in mid-air, and they all read the same message - exchange information and let the characters get to know each other.

The girl ran over.

Yu Xing followed her. He could tell that the curly-haired woman and the middle-aged man in his thirties were together, and the girl could also tell. So, the girl curiously asked, "What's the deal with those two people just now? Why didn't they let you in?"

"Hmph, maybe they have some problems in their heads. They claimed to be feng shui masters and said there were feng shui issues here. But they still went in themselves," the curly-haired woman sneered. However, after expressing her dissatisfaction with those two people, she politely nodded to the girl and Yu Xing, "Hello, I'm Xiao Xuechen. I'm here for a vacation, and this is my colleague."

The man in his thirties smiled, "I'm Wei Fan, an engineer. You can call me Wei Gong."

It seemed like they were a team. That meant these two people were not playing this game for the first time. The two men who went in first looked similar and were probably brothers, also part of the team... Yu Xing secretly wondered.

The girl's round face showed a hint of worry. She was only seventeen or eighteen years old, and her acting was quite natural. "I'm Ju Lan. I came here to find someone. Two days ago, my boyfriend and his classmate said they were coming to Guanjia Village to play, but then... they went missing. I didn't dare to tell his parents, after all, we are in a secret relationship... Oh, by the way, I met this handsome guy on the way here, no, we didn't come together..."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Xuechen, Wei Fan, and the young man with gray-blue hair all looked at Yu Xing. The young man played with a palm-sized paper doll that he didn't know where it came from. His eyes were either wearing colored contact lenses or naturally clear and beautiful, with a slight smile on his lips. "Hello, may I ask who you are?"

"I'm San, a painter. I came here for inspiration at the invitation of my fans," Yu Xing replied with a slightly awkward smile. His character was described as "indifferent," but he didn't like that. Being indifferent would hinder his performance. He wanted to create other character traits within his indifference.

As soon as he finished speaking, the young man raised an eyebrow in interest. "Oh? Really?"

"I was also invited by fans. What a coincidence," the young man said. He was alone, and his flashy jacket and ripped jeans didn't clash with his temperament. Instead, they matched well, giving a sense of visual contrast.

His tone was lazy, and he had been standing by the side, watching the commotion when others were arguing.

And now, he elongated his voice and looked around, seeming to be in a good mood. "Guess what I do?"

"How can we guess?" Xiao Xuechen flipped her hair. She was actually quite young, only in her early twenties, but her dress and voice made her seem mature, with an imposing aura. "Are you a celebrity?"

"Not quite," the young man extended his index finger and shook it. He looked at Yu Xing with anticipation.

"Your fingers are long and fair, but the sides of your fingertips and knuckles have obvious calluses. Your speech rhythm is maintained at a pace that can attract attention without causing aversion, indicating that you have good control over conversations. Combined with your facial expressions, I guess... I guess you're a magician," Yu Xing answered cooperatively, taking a step back as if lacking confidence. "You're good at this!" The young man unexpectedly widened his eyes. "No wonder you're a painter. Your observation skills are amazing..."

After being praised by Yu Xing, the young man's eyes almost turned red. He turned to the others and said, "Carlos, a magician."

"Nice to meet you," Xiao Xuechen and Wei Fan nodded politely to him, while also taking a closer look at Yu Xing, who had just demonstrated his reasoning ability.

Seems like he's not good at socializing but has good reasoning skills...

Yu Xing knew what they were thinking as they observed him, but he remained calm on the surface while secretly thinking to himself: a magician, a painter, an engineer, a woman with an uncertain profession, a student, and two self-proclaimed feng shui masters... This group of people has such diverse professions. Could it be that he's the only newcomer?

With this in mind, he didn't forget his mission and spoke up, "Um, now that we all know each other, shall we enter the village?"

It was getting late, and his current task was to find Zhou Yongsheng, who invited him, and arrange for him to stay with a villager as arranged by Zhou.

As for the others, although they were deductionists and could be considered companions, they didn't necessarily have to act together until their true intentions were confirmed.

The group of people walked towards the village, and as they approached, they could see a wooden sign at the entrance of the village.

The wooden sign was old, and the characters on it were blurry and barely recognizable. Two words could be vaguely made out - Coffin Village.

"Coffin Village? Isn't it Guanjia Village?" Ju Lan's voice sounded puzzled, breaking the silence. Before anyone else could speak, they heard a cough coming from the village.

"Cough, cough..."

A large locust tree stood at the entrance of the village, and a stooped figure emerged from the shadow of the tree. Yu Xing looked up and saw an old man.

The old man was dressed in simple clothes, with a hunched back and sparse white hair and wrinkles all over his face, showing his old age.

"Young people, cough... what are you doing in our village?" His hoarse voice was full of grittiness, heavy with the weight of twilight. It seemed like he was about to pass away at any moment.

Ju Lan hurriedly stepped forward and said, "Grandpa, I'm here to find someone!"

"Find someone?" The old man, with his unique voice that sounded like scraping glass, made it difficult to listen to. It was as if he was trying to squeeze the air out of his throat, "Find... find someone..."

He "found" for a long time, and just when everyone thought he couldn't remember, he said softly, "The village head is in the biggest house in the village..."

As the old man spoke, a gust of cold wind blew inexplicably. Yu Xing's collar was open, and he shivered.

Coincidentally, the sun completely disappeared behind the mountains at that moment, and the warm colors of the sunset vanished, leaving only a gloomy sky. The atmosphere suddenly became oppressive.

"Okay, thank you. We'll find it ourselves," Wei Fan noticed that something was off with the old man and stepped forward. He signaled to Xiao Xuechen, who understood and said as if they were familiar with each other, "Let's go find the village head and ask him to arrange accommodation for us."

"Okay, we're exhausted," Carlos skillfully chimed in, putting his hand on Yu Xing's shoulder. "Let's go, let's go inside!"

Yu Xing nodded obediently and entered the village with the others.

For now, it seemed like Xiao Xuechen would protect Ju Lan, who was also a girl. Wei Fan and Carlos would also consider the others. Not bad.

This was Yu Xing's first time playing as a deductionist in an investigative game. He didn't know what kind of interests the players had in this deduction game, so he decided to go with the flow for now.

The village looked desolate, with old-style bungalows, tiled roofs, and blackened and moldy white walls due to wind and rain. Pieces of wall plaster had fallen to the ground, and even large sections of the walls had crumbled.

The ground was uneven, with weeds growing everywhere. It seemed like no one had cleaned it up.

As they walked along the path into the village, they didn't see a single villager.

It was too quiet.

Yu Xing had a feeling and turned back to take a look. The old man's figure had already disappeared at the entrance of the village, and he didn't know where he had gone.

"Why is there no one here?" Ju Lan muttered to herself, appearing somewhat uneasy.

"I don't know. Let's find the village head first," Wei Fan reassured Ju Lan, then remembered something. "Hey, Carlos, San, do you know any villagers here? Didn't your fans invite you? Contact your fans."

"Well, do you think I don't want to, Wei Gong?" Carlos scratched his gray-blue hair. "No signal. I haven't even seen this fan. It seems like he doesn't like me much, not even coming to greet me."

Yu Xing had a thought and casually asked, "Is your fan named Zhou Yongsheng?"

"Oh! Really? We have the same fan?" Carlos's reaction confirmed Yu Xing's guess. They exchanged glances, but Ju Lan exclaimed, "Zhou Yongsheng!?"

"What's wrong?" Yu Xing looked at her, realizing that the first crucial point had arrived.

"Zhou Yongsheng is my boyfriend's classmate. Last time, they came to Guanjia Village to play at his suggestion, and... and then he went missing. I didn't dare to tell his parents because we're in a secret relationship... Oh, by the way, I met this handsome guy on the way here, no, we didn't come together..."

As they listened to Ju Lan, the five people stood in the middle of the road, looking at each other. Carlos squinted his eyes and repeated, "A scammer?"

Seems like there are some issues between you guys that need to be resolved. Xiao Xuechen turned her attention to them, guessing that the seven deductionists were divided into three groups at the beginning. She and Wei Fan were here to find the village head, these three people were looking for someone named Zhou Yongsheng, and the other two men probably had different intentions.

She pointed to a slightly grander house in ruins and asked Wei Fan, "Wei Gong, is that the village head's house?"

"Probably. Let's knock on the door." Wei Fan nodded and walked towards the house, but he noticed that the others were following.

"What about you guys?" Xiao Xuechen asked in surprise.

"Since Zhou Yongsheng didn't show up, I want to ask the village head where this person lives," Yu Xing replied calmly. Ju Lan and Carlos also meant the same.

Of course, if they had the village head's help, they wouldn't have to search house by house. It would be much more convenient to just ask.

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Soon, Wei Fan knocked on the door of the house.

The door opened, revealing a middle-aged man with a square face. He was initially stunned but then showed a warm smile when he saw them. "Are you all from the city?"

"Yes, are you the village head of Guanjia Village?" Xiao Xuechen showed a polite and friendly smile, and the distance between her and the others suddenly diminished.

"Yes, just like the two before, are you all here for a vacation?" The village head was much more cheerful than expected. He quickly stepped aside and said, "Come in, come in. The two of them were just inside. Hahaha, it's been a long time since we had so many guests. It's perfect timing for you to have dinner at my place."

"Yes, we're sorry for not giving you advance notice. Thank you for your hospitality, Village Head." Xiao Xuechen had no choice but to express her gratitude on behalf of everyone. The five of them entered the village head's house.

The village head's house was not small. As soon as they entered, there was a small courtyard. The kitchen on the left emitted the aroma of food. The two men Yu Xing saw at the village entrance were sitting at the big table in the courtyard, waiting for dinner. When they saw the group of people enter, they nodded at them.

The argument was caused by the system, and they didn't want to really separate from the group!

"Come, come, sit down. Just put your things aside. I'll tell my wife to make more dishes. Hahaha... It's been a long time since my house was this lively!" The village head invited them to sit down and then went to the kitchen.

Although there were clearly seven people sitting in the courtyard, there was always a creepy atmosphere.